Tuesday, March 23, 2010

It's a dreary, rainy day here, so I'm cozied up inside dreaming about Spring. I wanted to try this week's Friday Challenge. It's called Mix 'n Match, which means mixing up stamp sets and coming up with interesting ways in which to use them. I may have gotten carried away a bit, as I actually ended up using five different sets, including a font set!For this card, I wanted the inside of the card to really pop, so I kept the outside relatively simple. I stamped a custom sentiment, "spring" in Whisper White Craft Ink on some Groovy Guava paper and masked it so that I could stamp some pretty blooms to create some subtle background paper. I used the same color scheme as the inside for some cohesion.For the inside of the card, I decided to go with a pop-up scene to drive home the rest of my custom sentiment, "has Sprung."

I wanted a hint of a whimsical look and so I actually began with the furthest layer, the hills, which I created with circle border stamps from three different sets. I then cut out the circles and voila, I had some cute hills. To make them "flowering" hills, I stamped a pretty heart-shaped wreathe stamp several times and cut out pieces of it, colored them, and then layered them all along the edges. I like to take apart stamp images to suit my needs!

Next, I cut out a little yellow house, scoring lines to simulate clapboard, and then used the Modern Label Punch to create my windows and door. I added trees and a few bushes. Though I was tempted to make them apple trees and put berries on the bushes, I refrained, reminding myself that this was Spring, not Fall! I glued on the house, making sure that my green hill with the sweet sentiment "framed" the roof, which was created with a border punch.

The lake was fun to create. First I stamped my sentiment and clear embossed to make it stand out. Next, I free-cut a lake shape and then added some gravel from my old house that I've kept in a baggie since we moved.

Finally, I made the white picket fence by cutting strips of white cardstock and then lining them up. To create the fancy rounded trim, I simply traced a circle (I actually used the side of a spool of ribbon) at equal intervals and then cut with scissors. I needed bigger flowers than the hills' for correct perspective and so I was lucky to find some in a different stamp that looked similar, but were the right size. (These were in a vase on the original image.) After gluing everything together, I had a fun little springtime scene...now if only it will stop raining!BEAN NOTES: JustRite Seeds of Kindness, My Garden, Plant a Little Love, Favorite Occasions, Times New Roman 95 pt Upper & Lowercase Font and Stampin' Up Good Neighbors Stamps; SU Old Olive, Certainly Celery, and Wild Wasabi Classic Dye Ink; SU Whisper White Craft Ink; Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush Perfect Match Ink; Versamark Clear Ink; SU Stampin' Write Markers; SU Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Groovy Guava, Certainly Celery, Old Olive Cardstock; Clear Embossing Powder (generic); SU Ribbon Bundle Grosgrain Ribbon; EK Success Border Punch; Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder; Big ShotHAPPY BEANS: Gravel

What a great card!! I want to try something like that for my neighbor. She is very dear to me, so I like to make special one of a kind cards for her. (Often I prefer to mass produce cards, so I can package some up for a quick gift, and always have one on hand when needed.)

Past Design Teams

October-December 2010

Search For Beans

A Little Copywrite Note

All work designed and shown here is for inspirational purposes only. All designs are the copyright of Regina Mangum (The Stampin' Bean) and may not be copied for sale, for submission to contests, or for publication without permission.

as a design team member, i receive product from companies in exchange for design work utilizing those products. I agree to serve as a designer only as long as the products are those that i would or have used personally. As an affiliate, i receive product in exchange for design work and also receive a small percentage of any sales affiliated with that association. I do not endorse or review any products or services that i have not personally used.